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A notice of application review sign for a scrape-and-build project at 1498 Marshall Road west of Superior which was approved unanimously by Boulder County commissioners on Thursday. (Jeremy Papasso/Staff Photographer)

Boulder County residents have become quite familiar with the trend of seeing neighbors tear down existing properties to replace them with something more grand that some view as not really all that great.

Such a conflict was before Boulder County Commissioners in a virtual hearing Thursday for a proposal coming from J. David and Rhonda McCay of Hygiene that came with a twist: one feature of a revised construction plan is a large basement pitched as perhaps more palatable to the immediate, largely rural community, since it will be underground; out of sight out of mind.

The hearing concerning a 37-acre parcel at 1498 Marshall Road in unincorporated south Boulder County west of Superior had originally been set for April 1, but was tabled until Thursday due to disruptions to officials’ workload caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The hearing was conducted virtually on Thursday, via Microsoft Teams meeting software.

Original plans by McCay Estates LLC envisioned the scrapping of what was currently in place on the property in favor of a new 7,345-square-foot residence with attached garage, 1,025-square-foot covered deck and 4,000-square-foot barn and accessory dwelling unit structure. Boulder County Community Planning and Permitting staff on Oct. 31 recommended instead, with conditions, approval of plans limiting the new residence to a more modest 4,904 square feet.

That was appealed by the applicant in November. At a Feb. 13 hearing before the commissioners, the McCays agreed to the 4,904-square-foot version of their dream home, but proposed the 1,090 subterranean basement, resulting in the 5,994-square-foot iteration commissioners were faced with on Thursday.

Marshall Road resident Steve Doane, who has helped lead vocal opposition to the plan, was aghast at the notion that the 1,090-square-foot basement should not be counted by the county toward the property’s “visible bulk and mass” since it is below ground and therefore can’t be seen.

“Just like COVID,” he said, sarcastically,

In an interview prior to Thursday’s hearing, Doane said, “It’s going to create a precedent. Future applicants will be able to argue that, ‘Well, you can’t see it, so it’s okay.’

“And then, the bigger picture is … there’s a huge body of research and so on that says the most environmentally unfriendly, the worst carbon footprint building you can do, is to build things unnecessarily large.”

During Thursday’s hearing, Doane, the retired CEO of a local homebuilding company and a founding member of the Colorado Homebuilders Association’s Built Green program, talked about the neighborhood where he has lived since 2012, and for which the McCays’ project is slated.

“In my years of living on Marshall Road I have been lucky enough to see moose, bear, deer, and handful of smaller mammals and three male elk who visit regularly,” Doane said. He lamented what he fears will be the neighborhood’s disruption by construction of what he termed a “mansion” that is “as incompatible with the neighborhood as I can imagine.”

Julie Leonard, who lives in the 1500 block of Marshall Road, was another who spoke out against the project, calling it “just too big.” She noted that “The staff’s recommendation seems to be based solely on visual impact,” giving too little consideration to associated issues such as the planned construction process, “in which each additional trip that trucks make on Marshall Road represents an additional hazard,” with the resulting increased traffic not only causing noise, air pollution and dust, but also representing “a danger to wildlife and pets.”

But the project had its backers, including environmentalist and author Hunter Lovins, who is a neighbor to the McCays where they currently live in Hygiene.

“I’m here to tell you they are wonderful people. The community of Marshall is making a mistake in taking the oppositional position they are taking,” Lovins said. “They are stewards of the land that they have now. They are the best possible kind of neighbors,” adding that she considered the proposed Marshall Road structures a “beautiful” and “reasonably sized” replacement for “a couple of ugly structures” that stand on that property now.

Also advocating for the McCays was their architect, Karl Whitten of Boulder’s Whitten Design Group. He pointed out that neither the new house nor a 3,300-square-foot, six stall horse barn — replete with a “pony shower,” one critic noted — would reach no more than 27 feet above grade, whereas the main existing structure to be torn down is 35 feet above grade.

“The applicant has worked hard with county staff to design a house that is compatible with the neighborhood,” and “have reduced the size significantly since their original application,” Whitten said.

At the conclusion of Thursday’s hearing, the three county commissioners voted unanimously to approve the 5,994-square-foot version of the McCay home, big basement included, plus its accompanying new barn.

“I know land use is often a negotiation and change is hard on the community,” said Commissioner Elise Jones, noting that the McCays’ plan had evolved through a long process “from its initial proposal to something that is much better” for the neighborhood in which it is to be built.